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Messages - travelstock

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976
Microstock News / Re: ShutterStock press pass
« on: July 04, 2007, 10:46 »
Well... an agency that will pay editorial prices rather than 30c per download...

977
Microstock News / Re: ShutterStock press pass
« on: July 04, 2007, 09:44 »
Okay...let me be try to be more specific.  I was a newspaper reporter and news editor some years back, so I sort of know how the editorial photo game works.

Let's say you're at a concert and a gorgeous woman suddenly takes her top off (or at a political rally for a Democrat candidate and you see two men in the crowd just sitting there observing without getting into the celebration).  You take a close-up shot.  This photo, although shot at an event where you have access with a press pass, can be used in the newspaper ONLY if you obtain her/their consent.  In stock terms, that would be obtained through a model release.  Newspapers require what's called proof of consent, which can be obtained by asking for the person's name and contact information.

But then let's say you're at the concert and you take a shot of the crowd and there just happens to be a topless woman (or a political rally for a Democrat candidate where there just happens to be two men sitting in the crowd without getting into the spirit).  You shoot the photo in a big-picture way where she/they isn't the main subject.  This shot shows the event to be newsworthy and is thus editorial.  No need for releases, because releases are impossible to obtain from events and crowds.

The need for obtaining the consent of the topless woman is obvious.  But what about the close-up of the two men just sitting in the crowd at a political rally?  Without actually speaking to them, you don't know who they are or why they are in the crowd.  They could be Secret Service agents.  They could be grumpy men having a bad day.  They could be members of the Republican opponent's campaign team.  Whoever they are, you need to find out and obtain their consent, press pass or no press pass.       

There's just a lot of contributors who don't understand these simple rules or implications, and will try to pass off the close-up people shots as editorial without acquiring consent.  The basic rules taught in Photojournalism 101 is to obtain consent from people whom you have shot as a primary subject, and to always always always obtain parental consent on any photos depicting children. 

In the end, it doesn't matter about what kind of editorial shots various sites accept or don't accept.  What matters is how you conduct yourself as a photojournalist.  If you have permission to photograph an event and have a press pass, just remember that the same rules for general stock with models apply when it comes to close-up shots of people in the crowd.  Performers, celebrities, athletes, politicians...they expect their photos to be taken by the press and published in non-commercial publications, and the press pass grants you permission to photograph them.  But take care with the close-up shots of people in the crowd and obtain permission when possible (war and riots or major disasters and other dangerous situations excluded). 

If you can't obtain permission, just save the photo for your personal collection.  It will save you a lot of headaches in the long run, and give you a lot of great stories to tell your grandchilden. 

           


Agree with the comments, but have to say that some countries also have different rules regarding what you can publish. In general terms some continental European countries are far more restrictive in terms of what you can publish - including in some instances that you cannot even publish "crowd" type shots, whereas other jurisdictions including Australia are more liberal. While the idea of a micro-stock press pass is interesting, I can hardly see it as being worthwhile for the photographer. If you have enough interest in this type of photography, surely you're better off investing the time and learn to be a proper photojournalist and work with more lucrative agencies?

978
You should try looking at your pics sometime on a dodgy CRT monitor, some of them look positively awful. I've tried to show friends at work (back when I was working another job that is) on an office computer - definitely not a way to impress!

979
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia V.2
« on: July 04, 2007, 08:45 »
Am curious to know whether those with bigger portfolios than mine have experienced any noticeable increase in sales from other sites like Dreamstime?

As I upload more, I'm noticing that the 3 with somewhat consistent downloads are IS, DT and SS - I didn't have that big a problem with the IS disambiguation obviously, so that hasn't really affected me - it seems that this resulted more in a redistribution of where downloads go than an overall drop - FT on the other hand seems to be dropping overall because of bugs in the system.

980
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia V.2
« on: July 03, 2007, 23:44 »
Thought I'd add my grumbles about Fotolia in general and V2 in particular. The sorting of keywords has always been a pain in the backside to do, and entering data in general is cumbersome and slow. Seeing as they have spent so much time on their site "upgrade" they could have at least asked contributors how their lives could be made easier.

If I actually made anything near the income that I do on IS, SS or DT, maybe the effort would be worth it, but Sales are sporadic, despite having around 500 files online.

To add to the problem, I had a que of about 100 files uploaded before the upgrade, but for some reason, the keywords and file info has been removed, so either I delete and re-upload, to get the metadata back, or enter manually. Problem with deleting, is that you can only do it one at a time... grrrrr

981
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia V.2
« on: June 19, 2007, 00:54 »
Still missing metadata on some uploads that I haven't finished, but downloads look ok, and to me that's the main thing - keep the cash rolling. I'm hoping V2 ends up with a better search engine and that they eventually axe the ranking system for keywords - its a lot more work, and probably doesn't really improve search outcomes.

982
Hello from Brisbane Australia.

Litefeta - you here too?

Spring Hill

Someone should tell Ken that Micronesia is nowhere near New Zealand

Also from Brisvegas, but about to go traveling again, so won't be using up the water here for too much longer!

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